1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic running work vehicle, and more particularly to such a work vehicle which is adapted to perform work on the ground of a work site while repeating a running travel reciprocatingly and which has follower sensors for detecting the boundary between a worked area and an unworked area for each travel so as to run along the boundary automatically.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With automatic running work vehicles of this type heretofore known, sensors are mounted on the vehicle body for detecting the boundaries of running areas to automatically steer the wheels along the boundary detected by the sensors and automatically run the vehicle on a predetermined course along the boundary under follower control.
According to the conventional mode of follower control, however, the vehicle is merely so controlled as to automatically cover a specified work site by performing each of reciprocating travels along the boundary between the unworked area and the area already worked on by the preceding travel, so that there is the following drawback.
When the boundary defining a running course has a break, for example, due to the presence of an obstacle or absence of the object to be worked on, it is impossible to run the vehicle under continued follower control, with the result that the vehicle deviates greatly from the specified running course.